Mod A Flashcards
black shoe
“black shoe in which I have lived like a foot,”
CHARACTERISAITON, METAPHOR
conveys inescapble nature and suffocating infuelence of memory
do not do
“You do not do, you do not do”
REPETITION, ALLUSION
asserts rejection of her marriage with Hughes
luftwaffe + jew
“Luftwaffe… Aryan eye… panzer-man.” … “a bit of a Jew”
VITRIOLIC NAZI IMAGERY
comparing her trauma to that of a jew, establishing her powerlessness under his dead memory which is exacerbated by her rejection of marriage with Hughes
meinkampf
“a man in black with a Meinkampf look”
REFERENCES TO HOLOCAUST
symbolises her struggle for personal autnomy by drawing on her nazi-like oppression with men
worm
“the voices just can’t worm through”
METAPHOR, IMAGERY
emphatically liberates herself from the controlling male voice
killed two
“If I’ve killed one man, I’ve killed two.”
METAPHOR,
metaphorically killing her two oppressors
im through
“you bastard, I’m through”
PERSONAL PRONOUNS, DIRECT ADDRESS
controlling patriarchal influence of her context shapes the value of liberty she presented
DADDY MNEMONIC
BLACK SHOE, JEW, LUFTWAFFE, DO NOT DO, MEINKAMPF, WORM, KILLED TWO, BASTARD THROUGH
GOD,
“Your worship needed a god, where it lacked one it found one”,
DIRECT REFERENCE, CHARACTERISATION
characterises plath as obsessively idolising her father and then transferring this need for an idol onto the men in her life: she oppressed herself
JOCKS,
“ordinary jocks became gods… your Daddy had been aiming you at God”
INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCE, HYPERBOLIC LANGUAGE
|
invert plath’s oppression in her poem to her damaging idealized deification of men instead
FURIOUS
“furious bullet”.
EXTENDED MOTIF/METAPHOR
asserts her inevitable self destruction
, SOUND BARRIER,
“sound-barrier events”
PHYSICAL IMAGERY
depicts her fatal trajectory
FLIGHT PATH,
“along [her] flightpath”.
conveying her ignorance of others
REAL TARGET
“your real target hid[den] behind me, your Daddy.”
CONTEXTUALLY RECONSTRUCTS PERSONAL CONTEXT OF THEIR RELATIONSHIP
portrays himself as a victim of plaths obsession, revealing how public blame placed upon Hughes by his changing context led him to shift plaths values as the central failure in their relationship
THE SHOT MNEMONIC
GOD, JOCKS ,FURIOUS ,SOUND BARRIER , FLIGHTPATH, REAL TARGET
COOKING,
“When I am cooking, I feel it looking,”
ANTHROPOMORPHIC PRESENCE OF DEATH
shadowing her domestic activites, reveals how her frustration with broader societal context leads to her infatuation with martyrdom
SHIMMERS,
“But it shimmers, it doesn’t stop, I think it wants me.”
TRICOLON
further emphasises her obsession with martyrdom as a result of societal conditioning
GLADLY,
“I would have killed myself gladly”,
HYPERBOLIC LANGUAGE (FORESHADOWING)?
satirises expected role of women, ridiculing submissive domesticity
RULES,
“adhering to rules, to rules, to rules.”
REPETITION
emphasises criticism of her post war societal context
“adhering to rules, to rules, to rules.”
TERRIFIED,
“you are terrified… do not be afraid”.
DIRECT REFERENCE TO HUGHES
undermines patriarchal context, mocking attempts to restrain her intellectual and creative self
KILLING WHAT YOU CAN,
“kill[ing] what you can”
REFERENCES INTELLECTUAL POTENTIAL
demonstrates how society perpetuates her desire to escape her life of domesticity through death and a new life
BABY
“pure and clean as the cry of a baby.”
METAPHOR representing renewal in her martyrdom
A BIRTHDAY PRESENT MNEMONIC
cooking, shimmers, gladly, rules, terrified, killing, baby
WRAPPED,
“Red was your colour… wrapped around you”
MOTIF
represents plath’s creative spirit, arguing this artistry was intertwined with overwhelming anger and obsessiveness
ROOM,
“when you had your way, finally our room was red”
SYMBOLISM
depicts her fascination with death and gradual degradation of their relationship, using bedroom to represent their intimacy
CARPET RUBY SHEER,
“carpet of blood… ruby blood, sheer blood falls from ceiling to floor”
RITUALISTIC DICTION, SOMBRE TONE, VISCERAL MOTIF
rebukes suffocating presence, subverts her self-portrayal as a victim in asserting she also had a role in the disintegration of their relationship
BLUE WAS BETTER,
“Blue was better for you…folded your pregnancy…was your kindly spirit.”
JUXTAPOSITION, EMOTIONALLY CHARGED, EMPLOYS REMINISCENT TONE
introduces her motherhood, appreciates her beauty, obsession with martyrdom causes her to forget and devalue her own family
JEWEL WAS BLUE
“the jewel you threw away was blue.”
METAPHOR
captures his love for her in final line of the collection
